Woodlands Secondary Tiles and Reflections

After finishing their tile, the students were asked to write a reflection about their tile and their spark. These reflections are heartfelt and unique to each student, and really add to the value of the mural.

Click on one of the squares below to see a close-up of the tile and the individual reflection.

“Nature and Animals” - Arielle M.

“Hunting” – Amanda

For this tile, I have decided to focus on one of my favorite sparks as I have many, my spark is hunting. Hunting makes me feel in control. When I hunt, I don't think about every little thing, just forget about it all and concentrate on being quiet. Time stands still and nothing else matters except getting that big buck. I love the silence of nature, and how it sounds so peaceful. Although it's a difficult task to incorporate all the things I love about hunting into one painting. I'll do my best to show as much as I can.

“Underwater and Nature” – Collin

“Tennis” – Sierra

“Shopaholic” - Mie

My spark, fashion is strongly showed on this tile. I do love fashion a lot. Wearing pretty clothes are the best feeling in the world. It makes you become prettier not only in your own eyes but also in others. Having nice clothes on make us feel more confident in ourselves as well as receive people's respect. Some people say that fashion is such a luxury thing to do/spend and also waste of money but the way I look at fashion is very different, I see it powerful, mystery and infinity. I express my feeling and my personalities through the way I dress up every day. About my tile, I chose a very light blue to be my background on the top and 2 different tones of green at the bottom. Blue and green are my two favorite colors as they represent the color of freedom and creative. There is no limited when you’re working with fashion. I also focus on the main "shopaholic girl" with many other types of green, especially on her dress, there're more than one color on it which make her more special compared to the background. It also meant that it’s not supposed to be any specific color in fashion, there are a lot more that you cannot count or know. It just happens when you're working with it. Value is a very important factor that effects a lot on my tile to clearly show the audience about my spark so I decided to make as many colors as I could base on their main colors: blue, white and yellow. Then I tried to blend them to make it mixed better. There are also many colors on her shopping bags represent different brands or styles which means that you can catch up with many different styles or trends or depends on the seasons. This tile has some small details that I also focused on such as: high heels, sun glasses, earrings or hair... with actually complete the main character perfectly.

“The Elements” – Isaac

My Spark has to do with the five main elements of the world, fire, water, earth, wind, metal. Fire is alive yet not alive, it dances while giving off heat and warmth. Water moves with the wind, and is home to over a million living creatures. Earth is in fact alive but rarely moves, and is home to over a billion living things. Wind moves and makes noise, and moves things, but is not alive. Metal is a cool element, and bears no resemblance to life. I chose water to be my main element because it is fascinating, and also can be found in the periodic table (H and O).

“Nature” – Noelle

I chose to do a nature themed tile. Nature is absolutely my spark because I love everything to do about landscape scenery. Almost every day since the weather got nice I’ve gone out with a friend and just sat for hours just enjoying the scenery. In my tile I chose to do a blue sky and a river. Both these things are beautiful if you take time to appreciate them. I think more people would enjoy nature if they really sat and just looked at the things around them. I personally love how the earth can be so amazing. Even when it’s raining, everything is still beautiful to me. This is why I chose nature and landscape as my spark. I don't think there's any other way to explain why I love it, other than the fact that I just do!

“Ice Hockey” – Hannah

My passion is ice hockey. I started playing hockey when I was eight years old (second year atom) I knew from day one, when I stepped on that ice for the first time that this is what I love to do, I feel alive and I could play for hours and hours. Who knows my spark?? My coach and my dad, they try to help me out in every possible way to be the best I can be and shine on the ice. How far do I think I will go in hockey?? I think if I really apply myself and push myself I could go as far as I wanted to go; but my goal is to get a scholarship to the U.S.A. so I can get most of my schooling paid for. What makes hockey my spark?? Hockey is my spark because a spark is something that you love to do, what keeps you going and hockey is that for me; without hockey I don't know what I would do or who I would be today....

“Nature and Night Sky” – Sophie

“Night Sky and Universe” – Sydney

“Underwater and Nature” – Haylee

“Lacrosse” – Mackinna

My spark is lacrosse. I live my spark at home and at practices and games, my friends and family know my spark and support it. What feeds my spark is my friends and what gets in the school.

“Nature, Art and Underwater” – Faith

“Scouts” – Ami

My spark is Scouting. I have been involved in Scouting since I was five years old. I love the family like environment that Scouting provides. I have done two years of Beavers, three years of Cubs, three years in Scouts and one year in Ventures. In September it will be ten years involved in the program, and I am so proud of myself that I have come this far. I participated in Beavers and Cubs with a group called le Coquitlam, but when I was 11 I moved to Nanaimo and now I am a proud member of 1st Nanaimo Scouting has given me so much and taught me all about how to camp, I am so grateful. I have started helping out with the 1st Nanaimo Cubs, and I love working with the kids and teaching them what I have learned. What I have given in to the program, I get out twice as much. Scouting has taught me about life, and how to stay true to who you are and I am forever grateful.

“Dance” – Brooklyn

For our art project, we had to incorporate our spark on to our tile. My spark is Dance. The type of dance I do is Hip-hop. Hip-hop is my personal outlet. I put all my emotions into choreography and I release it, therefore I let all my negative thoughts go. I love that it's different than any other type of dance because you have so much more freedom to add your own unique/personal style. When the music matches my steps just perfectly I let my control go and I just dance. When I do this a different side of me shines through, a more confident version of myself. When I'm performing its very nerve-racking back stage but when I step on stage calmness runs through me. Hove the sound of the crowd cheering. I am so thankful that I've had the privilege to live out my spark. I chose a very simple the so your eye would go directly to the dancer's silhouettes. I decided to do silhouettes because Dance is about the art of your body and the movements it makes. I wanted artists to see that instead of taking the focus away and looking at the faces or the clothing they're wearing. In the original picture the background was a foggy light green- blue. I took white and painted in circular motions to create the foggy visual texture. Since the background is very light I wanted to bring out the green in the background so I used a darker green for the silhouettes creating contrast, therefore creating value. All these techniques created an emphasis on the silhouette. I am very satisfied with the outcome, it was exactly what I envisioned for this piece.

“Nature and Animals” – Lenora

“Sky High Melody” – Jessi

My tiles are 17 and 41, one on top of the other. For these tiles I wanted to show off my spark which is music, and singing. I focused on the microphone because I love to sing; I always find myself singing or mumbling along to a song I barely know. I don't know why singing I so important to me, but it’s just always something I go to when I'm sad. It helps me cope I and find my voice. The reason I also picked music as my spark is because the lyrics that the artists make can be so powerful, and sometimes they are just so powerful that they make me feel a whole lot better when I'm extremely sad. I also used giant speaker to show that I love going to concerts, because it feels me with energy, you get to see people who have the same interests as you, and it also allows for loud music.

“Dancer in the Sky” – Angela

For this tile, I decided to focus on one of my favourite sparks, which is dancing. Dancing makes me feel really alive. When I dance, I don't think about every single little step, and just follow the music instead. Time stands still, and nothing else matters; I feel energized. I love interacting with the audience, smiling, laughing and making people happy. Depicting all of this in one painting is a difficult task, and so I needed to have some good visuals. I wanted to show movement and happiness throughout the painting, as well as a hint of music. I picked a composition with full overlapping skirts, to give a sense of movement, which matched well with the cloud background on the original photo. The composition fills the tile almost completely, but the negative spaces create animated triangles which aid the dynamic feel of the piece. I believe value is the most important element of art in my painting because it is almost monochromatic. There was a small brown spot on the top right corner, and I transformed this into a tambourine, which is great as I also love percussion instruments. The arm outstretched towards the sky implies connection with the Universe and being one with everything, which is what I feel when I dance.

“Seaside” – Shanni

For this tile I wanted to show a calm seaside up close, showing not just a perfect beach seen with no seaweed or larger pebbles, but instead, showing the beauty in the flaws of nature. I incorporated blues and browns to have a neutral feel to the painting. The tile itself was an image or piece of a tree in the background with the sky taking up the other half of the tile, in the sky part I included a shell (lying in the "ocean") I also included a piece of Beachwood, and beach glass in my painting. This represents my love of the beach. As a child my grandmother would take me on beach trips and we would go exploring, it was such a free feeling, the sound of waves, running away from the shore when the water peaked up. Value is the most important element in this piece, the "Beachwood" and other stones as well as a fish I included could be thought of as different things by the viewer. Whatever the viewer chooses to see.

“Rio and Music” – Felipe

This painting is about Elza Soares, a singer of Brazilian popular music ... it shows the scenery of Rio de Janeiro, shantytowns and the Christ on the hill. I love Brazilian popular music, its composition and its verses enchant me, for this reason I chose to do this painting.

“Travelling” – Beryl Z.

“Gymnastics” – Taelor

My Spark is gymnastics. I live my spark at the gym. My spark is known by both my family and my friends. My family helps to feed my spark by encouraging me to try new skills. When I get nervous, it gets in the way if my spark.My tile is a couple silhouettes of people. One doing a split leap, while the other girl is doing a handstand. It shows that gymnastics Is a passion of mine. The developmental asset that matters most to me is responsibility.

“Yoga” – Pooja

“Oh Canada” – Hannah

As a young Canadian girl with a military background and planning on joining the Canadian forces in the next year or two, I choose the Canadian flag as my piece. I am currently a member of the Royal Canadian Cadet Program. When I would attend at the Vernon Army Cadet Summer Training Center (VACSTC) I would carry a flag properly folded up in my bag. When I have it with me I feel safe. The Canadian flag to me represents peace, independents, and that we are a "true and strong and free" country.